NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam has appointed a judge to fill the vacancy in Shelby County circuit court created when D'Army Bailey died.

Haslam's office said Tuesday that Valerie L. Smith has been chosen to serve as judge in the 30th Judicial District.

Smith has been an attorney at Nahon, Saharovich & Trotz in Memphis since 2006. She has practiced in court in Shelby County as well as circuit courts throughout the state, the Tennessee Claims Commission, bankruptcy court and federal court.

She also served as assistant district attorney general in Shelby County from 2000 to 2006.

Bailey, who died in July at age 73, helped preserve the Memphis hotel where civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The site is now the home to the National Civil Rights Museum.